Shade-fixture.



A. C. HOUGH.

SHADE FIXTURE.

APPLICATION map SEPT- 30. 1915.

Rm 1 9 1i 9 W M d 6 m w a P fzVVE/VTOR.

ATTORNEY.

siding AZEL c. HOUGI-I, or JANEsviLLn, Wisconsin, AssIenon TO ROUGH SHADE CORPORA- TION, OF JANESVILLE, WISCONSIN, A COBZPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

f SHADE-FIXTURE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 9, 11916.

Application filed September 30, 1915. Serial No. 53,366.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, AZEL C. HOUGH, a citizen of the United States of America, reat Janesville, in the county of Rock have invented a and State of Wisconsin,

of which the new and useful Shade-Fixture, following is a specification.

My invention relates to roll-up cord devices for flexible shades, or, in other words, to cord-supporting devices designed to be attached to shades that are capable of being rolled up and unrolled through the medium of cords, and consists of a. member that is provided with a cord-runner and is adapted to be hooked over the top molding of a shade and secured in place by a single nail, and which has a cord-receiving groove therein, and an opening for a supporting screw, the parts being so constructed and arranged that the cord not only may be held by a knot within said cord-runner, but is held tightly by said member itself when in place on said molding, and even more securely when the fixture and molding are fastened by a screw to a supporting part of a building, said fixture and molding thus serving in the capacity of clamps for said cord, all as hereinafter set forth.

One object of my invention is to produce a comparatively simple and inexpensive yet strong and durable fixture, for porch shades and the like, that can be easily and quickly attached to a shade, and to which and with which the upper terminal portion of a ro lup cord for said shade can with equal facility be attached, the attachments inboth cases being secure and of a permanent nature. The fixed end of the cord held by a knot at such end, but also by the clamping action of the fixture and of the securing means, whereby said cord is forcibly grasped. between parts of the fixture and of the shade and between parts of said shade and of the porch or building member to which theshado is fastened, and said knotand practically all of said fixed end of the is not. only ing practically all of the strain which comes on'the fixture and the shade or molding from the cord, and which otherwise would be sustained by said fixture and molding alone.

Thisfixture consists in part of a cordrunner which takes the place of a pulley, and is especially designed with a view to adapting such a device to a porch shade, be cause of the superiority of the cordrunner over a pulley, in this particular field at least. A pulley sooner or later becomes clogged with the frayed portions of the cord which passes over the same, and an imperfectly galvanized or japanned pulley or a twisted or displaced pulley is liable quickly to wear out said'cord. For these and other reasons a pulley is much less suits able for my purpose than a cord-runner which is free from the above-mentioned 0bjections. As a matter of fact, a cord, which is comparatively short-lived when run over a pulley, lasts almost indefinitely when run through or over a properly constructed runner.

Other objects and advantages will appear in the course of the following descrip tion. I

I attain the objects and secure the advantages' of my invention by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in

which- V Figure 1 is a front elevation of a porch shade with which is embodied a preferred form of my invention, two of the new'fixturestherein appearing, together with the. securing means therefor andfor said shade, and the latter being partially rolled. up; Fig. 2, an enlarged sectional detail taken on lines-2-Z,looking in the direction of the associated arrow, in Fig. 1; Fig. 3, a similar detail taken on lines 3-3, looking in'the di-' rection of the associated arrow, Fig. 1, and, Fig. l, an enlarged bottom plan, in partial section, of one of the fixtures, taken on line 4 l, looking in the direction of the associated arrow, Fig. 1. q

Similar reference numerals designate similar parts throughout the several views.

At 1 is represented a portion of a porch or building supporting member or support for the shade and to which the latter issecurely fastened by the means and in the manner presently to be explained. Those portions of the shade, in connection with which I have illustrated my invention and which appear in the drawings, comprise weft slats 5 and warp strands 6, provided with a top molding consisting of two strips 7 and the upper end portion of the weftslat and warp-strand fabrication, the afore-,

said upper end portion of said fabrication being received between said strips and all being securely fastened together to form said molding. A roll up cord 8 is provided for the shade, such cord being long enough to extend from both fixtures at the top of the shade down behind and under the bottom of the shade, when the latter is extended full length, up in front to said fixtures, and down again in front, in the form of aloop, as far asmay be desired, a portion of said cord being carried across in front of the shade from one fastener to the other before descending to form the loop. The looped portion of the cord 8 is broken off in Fig. 1. The construction and operation of these elements are old and Well known, and require no extended explanation; furthermore, the details of construction may vary in different makes of shades.

Passing new to the fixture, it will be seen that the samecomprises a front portion or body 9, a'hook lOat the top of said body, and a cord-runner 11 at the bottom of said body. The'body 9 has a small opening 12 therein, for a nail 13 with which the fastener is first secured in place on the shade molding, and a larger opening 14 therein,

which said fastener and for a screw 15 with molding are firmly and securely attached to the suppor 1, said openings being seen in Fig. 2. An opening for the screw 15 is provided in the shade molding, as shown at 16 in Fig. 2. The hook 10 is so shaped and proportioned that it fits over the top of the shade molding and supports the body 9 on the front of said molding. The cordsrunner 11 is in the form of which the cord 8 passes and in which said cord may run or be drawn freely. In the top of the runner is an opening 17 through which one end of the cord 8 is passed and knotted, at 18, to prevent such end from being pulledfrom said runner. A cord-receiving groove 19 is formed inside of the body 9 and the hook 10, such groove starting from point just above the runner opening17, and extend mg upwardly, rearwardly, and downwardly to the bottom of the back side of said hook. The groove 19 should only be deep enough to take in the cord 8 and permit the fixture to be forcibly placed on the molding, by

I squeezing said cord together or compressing it between said molding and fixture, as additional fastening means for said cord is thus obtained. 7 This fixture can be formed out of a single piece of sheet-metal, withthe aid of suitable punchesand dies.

In practice, the ends of the cord 8 are a closed eye through passed from behind down through the open mgs 17 in the runners 11, of the two fasteners required for the shade, and knottedat 18; then, with the terminal portions of said cord in the grooves 19, said fasteners are forced into place on the shade molding, with their bodies 9 against the outside of the front molding strip 7 and the back part of their hooks 10 against the outside of the rear molding strip 7, said cord now being squeezed in between said strips and the grooved parts of said fixtures, and passing up in front, over, and down behind said molding; next, after said fixtures have been adjusted laterally on said molding to whatever extent may be necessary, the nails 13 are inserted in the holes 12 and driven in to said molding to prevent said fixtures from becoming displaced, and, finally, said molding is placed against the support 1 and the screws 15 are inserted in the holes let and 16 and screwed tightly into said support. The screws 15 force the bodies 9 hardagainst the molding and the latter, with the intervening portions of the hooks 10 and the cord 8 hard against the support 1. The screws 15 thus rigidly secure the molding and fasteners to the support, and in so doing for, very little provision for passageways slow the recesses for said hooks will'be needed in any event. It is now plainly to be seen that the ends of the cord 8 areso securely fastened, by the knots 18 and through the medium of the and members, as to obviate any liability of their becoming detached or even loose. The cord 8 passes, from the two points'of permanent attachment, down behind, under, and up in front of the shade, to and through the runners 11, and down again, but this time in front of said shade, the left-hand portion of said cord in front passing through both runners as shown. The shade is rolled up by grasping the loose portion of the cord 8 and the same to shorten the loops'in which said shade is received, and said shade is unrolled or permitted to unroll by slackening the grasp on the aforesaid loose pendant looped portion and permitting said loops which are beneath said shade to lengthen.

' During either of these operations the weight gripping parts medium of the screwsl5, to'the support 1, as has previously been explained, and this enables me to use lighter fixtures, and relieves them together with the upper part of the shade itself from much strain that might and frequently would be detrimental. With these fixtures the unsightly ends of the cord are hidden, and there are no fastening means in view, which means are usually no less unsightly than said cord ends. While it is true that the screws 15 fasten the fixtures securely to the molding, said screws are not used until the shade is actually in stalled, wherefore means such as the nails 13 are needed to secure said fixtures from the time they are applied to the shade by the manufacturer until said shade reaches the hands of the consumer and by him is hung up for practical purposes.

Various modifications in the shape, size, construction, and arrangement of some or all of the parts of this device may be made without departing from the nature of my invention.

Vrhat I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As an improved article of manufacture, a shade fixture comprising a body adapted to lie against the face of the top member of a shade, and a hook at the top of said body, which hook is adapted to fit over said shade member with a part between said member and the building support for said shade, said body and hook having formed therein an interior longitudinally-disposed cord-receiving groove that extends from the bottom of said body to the free end of said hook.

2. As an improved article of manufacture, a shade fixture comprising a body adapted to lie against the face of the top member of a shade, a hook at the top of said body, which hook is adapted to fit over said shade member with a part between said member and the building support for said shade, anda cord-runner at the bottom of said body, said body and hook having an interior longitudinally-disposed cord-receiving groove, and said cord-runner having a. recess adjacent to the lower front end of said groove, through which recess is passed to be secured one end of a cord before the latter is placed in said groove] 3. As an. improved article of manufacture, a shade fixture comprising a body adapted to lie against the face of the top member of a shade, a hook at the top of said body, which hook is adapted to fit over said shade member with a part between said member and the building support for said shade,

five cents each,

said body and hook having an interior longitudinally-directed cord-receiving groove, and said body also having one or more perforations for a fastening member or members, and cord-securing and -supporting means at the base of said body.

l. As an improved article of manufacture, a shade fixture comprising a to lie against the face of the top member of a shade, a hook at the top of said body, which hook is adapted to fit over said shade member with a part between said member and the building support for said shade, said body and hook having an interior longitudinally-directed cord-receiving groove, and cord-securing and -supporting means at the base of said body, together with supporting means adapted to pass through said body and said shade member into said building support, whereby the weight of the shade and the strain on the fixture are transferred to said support.

5. The combination, with a shade, and a roll-up cord therefor, of a fixture comprising a perforated body provided with a hook at the top to fit over the top member of said shade, and with a cord-runner at the bottom, said cord-runner having an opening therein tojreceive one end of said cord, such end being fastened within said cord runner, and said body and hook having an interior longitudinally-directed groove to receive said cord, after it leaves said cordrunner, tween the walls of said groove and adjacent parts of said shade member, and a fastening member passing through the perforation in said bodyinto said shade member.

6. The combination, with a support, of. a shade and a roll-up cord therefor, of a ture comprising a perforated body provided at the top with a hook adapted to fit over the top member of said shade, and at the bottom with a cord-runner, the latter having an opening therein to receive one end of said cord, such end being fastened within said cord-runner, and said body and hook having an interior longitudinally-directed groove to receive said cord, after it leaves said cordrunner, between the walls of said groove and adjacent parts of said shade member, and a supporting member passing through the perforation in said body and through the aforesaid shade member into said support, to secure said shade and fixture to said support and clamp said cord in place.

i V AZEL G. HOUGH;

Witnesses:

MARY E; STEVENS,

HAZEL T. VVEIRIOK.

by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). G.

body adapted 

